The 2nd release by Filth Of Mankind truly became a final chapter in their discography. The band is defunct now, but there's a project called Morne by some former members of FOM, and they're no worse than FOM.

This album is awesome, even better than "Czas Końca Wieku". What else can I say? Amebix and Axegrinder definitely should be proud to have such followers, and both albums by FOM are highly recommended to everyone who like dark, heavy, apocalyptic and politically charged music.

Filth Of Mankind were a metallic crust band from Poland, who released two albums ~10 years ago. Both of their releases are just amazing, and highly recommended everyone who're into crust or metal. While it's not specifically "blackened crust" (at least I think so - though the atmospheric black metal influence is definitely present), it's still one of the best examples of heavy, dark and gloomy metallic crust, obviously influences by 80's UK crust/stenchcore bands. Now let the members of FOM speak for themselves:

"Filth Of Mankind was formed in early 1996 by: Maciek - vocals, Milosz - guitar, vocals, Pawel - guitar, Lazej - bass and Balon - drums. Some of us played also in a few other bands at that time: Money Drug, Stench Of Death, Noise Grass, Protest And Survive, etc. Forming F.O.M. we wanted to focus on the heavier and darker sound to illustrate the lyrics about subject as old and cliché as still urgent and annoying - such as politicians’ swindles, brutality of their thugs in uniforms, the madness of neverending consumption, poverty of the living as a cog in the capitalist machine or sick moral standards force fed since our birth and leading to lack of tolerance, respect or understanding any forms of diversity. Another important part of our lyrical content are visions of the apocalypse, towards which in our opinion, the humankind unavoidably goes. For such a verbal/musical approach we decided the best fitting name was the title of the Misery song - Filth Of Mankind (one of the other options was The Darkest Hour off the Amebix song - luckily we didn’t choose that, as there’s other band named D.H in the U.S.)"bandcamp

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This LP is the latest release by Black Kronstadt. The band broke up in 1997, and one of their former members formed Iskra in 2002. Obviously their music was way too experimental for the mid-90's crust/hardcore scene, but now we can see them as a founders of a whole "blackened crust" subgenre.

"The Free Spirit" remains highly underrated even for today. Not only it's far from typical 90's crust - it has some industrial overtones due to extensive use of sampling, and song structures which remind me of early industrial rock bands like Godflesh. The lyrical content on this album remains overtly political, of course. This is certainly an underrated album, and not everyone will like it even in our days... but I like it.

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The second release by Black Kronstadt, despite being almost as raw and chaotic as the previous one, presents much more "metallic" sound (remember that in the mid-90's, crust and metal scenes were much diverged from each other). This EP, being obviously influenced by black metal and grindcore, is one of the first examples (if not the very first) of what would later evolve into Red & Anarchist Black Metal. A definitely must-listen release, even though not everyone may like it.

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This band MUST be on my blog, for obvious reasons ;) However, back in 1992 they were playing just very raw and noisy anarcho-punk/crustcore. Though some of the tracks ("Low Intensity Conflict", for ex.) already had some metal and grindcore overtones.

This album is the last classic release by Amebix, and it's also their most gloomy and depressive one. This is partly because it was influenced by bands like Black Sabbath, Bauhaus, Joy Division and Killing Joke, and the album itself became a source of inspiration for not only crust and metal bands, but for some industrial rock bands as well (Godflesh, for ex.) The lyrics on this album are just perfect, so it's strongly recommended to read them (all the lyrics are included in the archive). Along with portraying a dark and gloomy image of post-apocalyptic world, they bear a strong revolutionary anti-authoritarian message. As for music... well, it's Amebix, enough said. BTW, the voice of the singer reminds the those of Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead) a bit. Check out the last track, "Coming Home" - it's kind of a ballad, and it's really beautiful!

DOWNLOADNB: The song "Largactyl" was written in response and somewhat in honor to Martin (previous drummer) for being diagnosed with "paranoid schizophrenia" and being institutionalized without choice by his parents.

It's always hard to write about such well-known releases, so I'll make it as short as possible. This album is widely regarded as a classic example of 80's metallic crust punk, and it has became a source of inspiration for many well-known bands, including Sepultura, Neurosis, Deviated Instinct... and of course, for a lot of RABM bands! "Arise!" is more "metallic" than any of their previous releases, and the lyrics contain an explicit political message. While being definitely not "soft" and "easy to listen", this album does contain a lot of slow acoustic parts, and the influence of post-punk and gothic rock is also evident.

DOWNLOADNB: The release notes say that the cover is a photograph of Polish mothers looking for their dead sons during the 2nd World War. It's indeed a WWII photo, but it was taken in early 1942 in Crimea, not Poland.

When being compared with previous two 7''s, this 12'' EP features slighty better quality of production, and more "metallic" sound. Of course it's not comparable to their full-length releases, but it's a precursor for what was to come in 1985.

NB: The painting on the cover is called The Second Coming (of which it was their second release) from the Czech painter and graphic artist Frantisek Kupka.

The 2nd 7'' by Amebix doesn't offer much better quality of production than the 1st one, but the song structures became more complex. The lyrics are gloomy and depressive (as expected from Amebix, though). It's certainly not recommended for anyone who have never listened to Amebix before, but it's still a classic release.

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It is the first 7'' of one of the first (if not the first) crust punk bands - Amebix. Of course, "Who's The Enemy" is definitely not their best release, and it's even not an album for everyday listening. The sound is raw as hell, comparable with those of early black metal bands... but it's the true sound of early 80's underground punk!

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The 4th and the latest up-to-date album by the Ecuadorian revolutionary metal band Aztra consists mostly of the new versions of their old songs. Even if you didn't like some of these songs on their earlier albums, it's certainly worth listening. There are some ballads, and the vocals are male (just line on "Raices"). If you're new to Aztra, feel free to start from this album.

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An epic heavy/folk metal band Aztra is here again, with their 3rd album "Raices" (which means "Roots", I believe). This album, in my opinion, is significantly better than "Insurgente". Maybe it's not an excellent release, but it's definitely very good for any fan of melodic heavy metal. Check out the track "Lago de Sangre", one of the best songs by Aztra. I can't understand much of the lyrics, but they're apparently based on the folklore of indigenous American people, and they're encouraging to fight for freedom. The vocals on this album are male, and their current singer is a good one.

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Looks like the lyrics on this album are much more explicitly political, when compared to previous album. But to be honest, musically it's my least favourite album by Aztra. Just like on "Tierra Libre", vocals are female, the songs are melodic but generally not too catchy. As far as I can understand, most of the lyrics are about revolution, socialism and the rights of native American people. And yes, Victor Jara isn't forgotten!

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And finally, here comes one of the best leftist metal bands from Latin America - Aztra. As far as I know, they're relatively well known in Ecuador and even in Spain, but not so well known outside the Spanish-speaking world. They're also one of a few bands who incorporate elements of Native American folk in their music. All the vocals on this album are female, and the music is very melodic.

One more album by Subvertor, and it's their latest release up to date (if the promo CD from the Death Fest-2007 doesn't count). Musically it's more brutal than "Cryptobiosis", though the sound became more generic - it's just brutal death metal / grindcore, nothing really surprising.

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This evening is definitely going to be an evening of latinoamerican metal in my blog. Well... why not to post some, if it's good? Subvertor are a Bolivian death metal band which hold socialist beliefs, formed in 1990 and still active today. They apparently are paying much homage to Che Guevara (remember that he was executed right there in Bolivia...) Enjoy!

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One more band from Argentina, now it's anarcho-communist thrash metal. The band is still active today, though they haven't released any more albums. Here's their myspace.

BTW, where have gone all these Argentinian leftist metal bands? Today's Argentinian political metal scene seem to be predominately right wing, with only exception of female fronted punk/thrash metal band Espartako (but they're much more punk than metal)...

One more death metal band, and they seem to be somehow related to Profecium (at least, according to Metal-Archives, the lead singer of Profecium was also in Terrorist). Musically it's just typical death metal, nothing really outstanding, but if you like good death metal or grindcore (Terrorizer, Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, etc.), you probably will like "Mata O Muere". They have at least one more album (called "Collision" and released in 2002).

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Well... it isn't black metal, but at least it's extreme metal music charged with anarchist/socialist ideas. I was contacted by A.Lisi (one of the founding members of Mass Obliteration) and he sent me a link to this demo. Lyrics and scans are included (though the lyrics on this demo aren't very political... just anti-religious). Hope you wouldn't be against for some anarchist death metal ;)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

bandcamp
"Revolutionary Socio-Anarcho Black Metal" from Canada (Quebec). (NB: there are also a R.A.S.H. band with the same name from Lugano, Switzerland, who sing in Italian... and they actually are very good!)

Speaking of sound, it's just black metal, nothing more, nothing less. The only standout track is "Reprisal" - an ambient track played completely on synthesizers. Honestly, you won't lose much, if you wouldn't listen to it at all. The other 3 tracks sound very nice, though - at least it's no worse than Mrakobesie or Jarost Marksa. I can't say much about the lyrics, because I could understand only separate words like "nazi scum" etc., but apparently they have a very strong political charge. Overall a very promising demo, let's wait for more stuff from them!

DOWNLOAD"If you wanna be in my gang Stand up with meWe'll start a revolutionAnd make the streets free..."

Don't you know that there were a lot of good political metal bands back in the 80s? No, I wouldn't post very well-known stuff like Kreator, but I definitely feel that I should post the whole Amebix discography, and some other 80's bands that made a great influence on today's RABM scene. But I'll do it in the next few days, and now you may enjoy an another metal band from the 80s - Drifter.

Drifter have started in the early 80s as a fantasy-themed metal band, but later they became much more socially/politically conscious. At least "Nowhere To Hide" has only one or two songs with fantasy-based lyrics. All the other tracks are about more serious topics such as nuclear war, environmentalism, corrupt politicians, etc. and their lyrics generally seem to be very left wing. The musicianship is also excellent; if you like old school heavy/thrash metal, you definitely would like "Nowhere To Hide". Check out the track "Strontium Dog", for example...

P.S. Surpisingly enough, the band is still very active and playing concerts (though not releasing anything new). Here's their myspace.

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Thanks to one of my anonymous readers for uploading this album! As you already know, Arsen aka König der Monster were a part of Bremen hardcore scene, and they were one of the first European hardcore bands to incorporate some elements of black metal into their music. It's the one and only LP by them, sadly thay have split up.

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I've already posted all releases by Shikabane that I have, expect for the first EP and the 3 tracks from their split EP with Agathocles. Well, here it is! Of course, it's not metallic hardcore / blackened crust, as on their latest releases, but rather fastcore/grindcore with very fast and short tracks. It still resembles Radioskugga a little, though.

It's unknown if they are still active as a band, or if they have any other releases beside those I've already posted. But anyway, they already left their mark in history of Japanese hardcore/crust scene.

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The first release by Ewig Frost (you already know them). Actually, this album isn't very good when compared to "Rust" EP, and the band themselves admit it. But if you like "Rust", you might find "Blue Septime Winters" worth listening too. And don't forget that Ewig Frost are very short of money after the release of "Rust", so it would be good to support them by purchasing that EP through their myspace...

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It's the first full-length release by Black Trinity. Beside this album and "The Blackstorm Is Unfold" EP, they also have a demo called "The Forest of the Lost Souls", but I don't know if it was released to the public.
Yes, punks can play really trve & kvlt black metal! Just listen to this album, and you'll have no doubt about it. Unlike Cascadian BM, it's not very atmospheric - it's just raw and hateful. The whole album is a worship of early 90s-black metal, with clear thrash metal and crust overtones. BTW, you can get it straight from the band - just contact them!

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Black Trinity are an old-school black/thrash metal band from Thessaloniki, Greece (don't confuse them with another BM project from Cleveland under the same name!). Actually they're punks who also play in various D.I.Y. punk and crust bands, like Dyspnea (I have some of their releases, but haven't listened to them yet) and Go Filth Go. They're 100% D.I.Y. and anti-nazi for sure.

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Unlike two releases I've posted previously, this split album has very much to do with black metal. Actually, it's very close to Antichrist's 2002 album in terms of sound. Too sad it's their last release... And speaking of Intensity - it's just your typical swedish crust band, enough said.

The archive includes some scans of the booklet, with lyrics printed in Polish and English. Unfortunately the scans are of very low resolution... From what I could read, Antichrist's lyrics seem to be anti-religious (well, no wonder) and anarchistic.

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Just as on "The Blind" LP, there's not much black metal, it's just crust (but it's good crust!) As for Dysmorfofobia, they're playing rather strange music of sludge/industrial kind (slightly simular to Godflesh). Sorry for too low quality of the cover picture, I don't know where to get better one.

If you're interested in early releases by Antichrist, then these tracks are for you. Of course it's not black metal, it's punk/crust (no wonder, 'cause it was recorded in 90s, when crust wasn't so "blackened"), but it's very decent crust. It's also a relatively rare and hard-to-find release.

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Do you like Children of Technology, Nuclear Frost, Wastelander or Ork Bastards, and don't like nazi posers in black metal? Then you'll probably like this EP. Ewig Frost are playing old-school black metal, highly influenced by punk and bands like Venom. They also have a full-length album called "Blue Septime Winters", but I haven't listened to it yet.

Well, enough for today. Hope I'll post everything I want in the next 2-3 days. Keep an eye on the updates!
UPD: myspace (you can buy "Rust" there!)

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Arsen aka König der Monster were a dark hardcore / screamo band who recorded two EPs and one LP in 2002-2003 and then split up. They were a part of Bremen hardcore scene, which was characterised by its distinct sound. This EP definitely has a very strong black metal influence, and the sound is very gloomy, dark and powerful. I don't have any other releases by them, but I think they wouldn't be hard to find.

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Yes, the RABM movement exists even in Philippines! Sibat is an one-man project by Ka Mao, who lives somewhere in the northeast of Philippines, and he's obviously aware of my blog ;) These two tracks are ripped from youtube, but Sibat also have a myspace page.

I've never heard any Philippine punk or metal bands before, so can't compare Sibat with them. But at least this stuff is better than Zudas Krust or any other Malaysian or Indonesian crust band that I've heard. The vocals aren't in black metal way, but maybe it's even for good. Hope to hear more stuff from Sibat soon, and the Eastern Asian RABM scene will grow!

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About the blog

First of all: there's probably a lot of broken English on this blog. Hope it isn't that bad, at least I'm trying to do my best. Feel free to point me to any of my mistakes, if there are any. -B.K.

If you're playing in a band and want to see your music featured on our blog - just send a download link of your demo to us:

- oiseau [@] riseup [.] net - for basically anything RABM-related, but she is generally interested in atmospheric, depressive, and post-BM stuff, as well as the projects from Latin America (and Mexico in particular).

- band name, release name/year, country of origin, album cover image (or at least band photo or logo);

- track listing (properly numbered);

- preferably a full release (not samples or streaming) in mp3/m4a/ogg (128kbps or higher bitrate). You may use any free filesharing site (preferably Mediafire) to host your files; or you can use Bandcamp (but then make sure your release is available for free download). *** NO LARGE ATTACHMENTS PLEASE!!! ***;

- any other info about you and your release (links to any sites related to your band, release notes, etc.);

- reason why you want your music to be featured on our blog (note that it's not just another metal blog, and even if your band is apolitical, it still should be somehow in the spirit of RABM movement).

Most of the uploads here are band sanctioned. Anyway, if you for some reason don't want to see your music here, contact us via email (rabmblog [@] gmail [.] com), and we'll consider taking it down.

If you wish to become a contributor for this blog, send a message to rabmblog [@] gmail [.] com. The obvious requirements are: being supportive of the RABM movement, good proficiency in English, and willingness to review lots of albums on a regular basis.

FAQ

Q.: Which kinds of music are featured on this blog?

A.: - (primarily) RABM or Red & Anarchist Black Metal: all kinds of black metal-related music charged with radical leftist (anarchist, libertarian socialist, eco-anarchist, etc.) political views. Some of the bands featured here may be not openly political, but all of them are RABM-friendly;

- blackened crust/hardcore/punk (only if it's openly RABM-friendly, or if it's just very good music; we have no intention to collect here all the blackened punk in existence);

A.: Most bands nowadays have a bandcamp page, where you can but their stuff online (usually for an arbitrary price). It's the most convinient way to support the band. If your favourite band don't have a bandcamp or bigcartel page, try to find out in which distro you can find their albums/merch. Of course, go to concerts if you have such opportunity.

Q.: How can I offer my financial support to this blog, or the RABM movement in general?

A.: Unfortunately right we don't have an opportunity to accept donations, but we hope we'll be able to set it up soon.

Q.: What is the connection between black metal and hardcore/punk/crust?

A.: It's a well-established fact that the connection between black metal and punk scenes existed since the early days of BM (think Venom, early Bathory, early Mayhem and early Sodom on one side, and Amebix, Discharge and Axegrinder on another). Recently this mix of BM and hardcore punk got a new life in the form of blackened crust (thanks to Black Kronstadt / Iskra in first place). And don't forget about Cascadian black metal bands with their radical environmentalist ideology, often to the extent of radical eco-anarchism or "pro-nature/anti-humanity" ideas.

Q.: What's your main ideology?

A.: This blog is generally written from a position of anarchism without adjectives; however, the RABM scene is very diverse ideologically. Let us end on this, as this blog isn't quite a right place for purely political debates; if you want to learn or argue about anarchism/other ideologies, there's a lot of specialized FAQs/blogs/forums for you.

Q.: Isn't black metal supposed to be apolitical?

A.: Supposed by whom? I personally don't think so, but if you think that political awareness should have no place in "true" black metal, you can feel free to call the bands featured on here "blackened punk" or whatever you want. It should be noted, though, that a lot of these bands doesn't openly talk about politics in their lyrics, exactly because they think it wouldn't be suitable for black metal. - B.K.

Q.: Isn't RABM just an "answer" to NSBM?

A.: While RABM is definitely against NSBM and any other kind of far-right crap in metal scene, it's most emphatically a self-sufficient movement and not any kind of "answer to NSBM". Similarly, while RABM is 100% pro liberation from any kinds of religious tyranny, it isn't a movement against any particular religion (Christianity, Islam, or any other).

Q.: What's your opinion on Satanism?

A.: The so-called "Hollywood Satanism", which is often found in black metal, is, in our opinion, nothing more than inverted Christianity, so we aren't big on it. Many of us are simply atheists, pagans of all kinds, gnostics, etc. We also don't share the notion that only genuine theistic Satanists / Devil-worshippers can play "real" black metal (this would exclude such bands as Venom, Bathory, Immortal, Summoning, and many many others). Additionally, the very term "Satanism" is quite vague, and can't be narrowed down to LaVeyan Satanism (which is heavily disliked by many black metallers), or whatever else. LaVey had some good points, but in general his philosophy can be described just as "Ayn Rand with some occult tinge".

Q.: What about misanthropy and nihilism?

A.: To put it in short: we don't hate everyone and everything (and we don't think there's anyone﻿ who truly does). We just hate these traits of humanity which make true anarchist society most likely infeasible in the foreseeable future.

Q.: Collectivism or individualism?

A.: There actually is no "hard" contradiction between these two terms. Individualism is simply an outlook emphasizes the moral worth of the individual and its right not to be oppressed by the state or some social group. It doesn't contradict at all with standing up for your rights along with a group of like-minded individuals. It also worth noting that the early black metal scene didn't promote individualism that much (see "black metal circles").

Q.: Who coined the term "RABM"?

A.: Hard to say, but there's an apparent similarity to RASH ("Red & Anarchist Skinheads"). Here's the very first mention of "RABM" we could find (August 2005). The term was popularized by our last.fm group (and later - by this blog) since 2009.

Q.: Do you know the ideology of the band X? It isn't obvious if they're NSBM or not...

A.: Sorry, we don't know, do your own research. It's often hard to say anything certain about a band's views, if the members themselves aren't open about it. We also don't advice using various "lists of nazi bands" etc. as a reference, as most of them are full of bullshit. Similarly, forum posts or blog comments (especially anonymous ones) generally aren't a reliable source for anything. In one particular case, we had an anonymous comment claiming that the members of Timebomb are now playing in a fascist band called SPQR. Later it turned out that it were members of a completely other Italian band with a similar name (Timebombs). Hopefully that'd be a good example of how important fact-checking is.

Q.: I've seen some of the albums posted here in the same distro with some albums by right-leaning bands...

A.: Unfortunately it's often the case with distros and labels that distribute stuff regardless of its political affiliation. Even Austin Lunn of Panopticon complained about Pagan Flames (the label which released his "Collapse" and "Social Disservices" LPs) having NSBM in their distro, so things like these are just unavoidable.

Q.: Some bands on this blog have Burzum on their list on influences. Isn't Varg Vikernes a nazi?